Nov. 21, 2012

Written by

@mdiamondapp

Most New Jersey businesses damaged by superstorm Sandy shouldn’t be disqualified by a federal conservation law from receiving government assistance to help them rebuild, according to a map released Tuesday by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Department.

The map outlines largely undeveloped land that is protected by the Coastal Barrier Resources Act, a law that went into effect in 1982 and prohibits businesses in those areas from receiving disaster loans from the U.S. Small Business Administration.

The law got the attention of Manny Iosue, a pizzeria owner from Lavallette, who, as part of a packet of information from the SBA, read a notice that warned applicants who have property in the Coastal Barrier Resource Area that they would be ineligible for federal aid.

He said many business owners didn’t have flood insurance, making the SBA disaster loans their best hope to rebuild. The SBA offers loans of up to $2 million to rebuild and up to $2 million to use as working capital — at interest rates as low as 4 percent.

The notice, however, didn’t say where business owners could go to see if they were in the protected zone, leaving Iosue confused.

The Fish and Wildlife Department on Tuesday released a map showing the Coastal Barrier Resources System. In Monmouth and Ocean counties, it includes undeveloped areas such as the Metedeconk River Watershed, Island Beach State Park, Sandy Hook and two islands where the Shrewsbury and Navesink rivers meet.

The Coastal Barrier Resources Act was signed by President Ronald Reagan and was designed to conserve natural resources in part by making property owners in protected areas ineligible for loans that would be used to replace damage left by natural disasters.

A 2002 study by the Fish and Wildlife Department estimated that the law would save taxpayers $1.3 billion from 1983 to 2010. A story in Tuesday’s Asbury Park Press gave the incorrect time period.